The IMF is rethinking its role in the post-crisis world to ensure it is working most effectively for its 186 member countries, and helping them avoid another global recession, with all that implies for trade, jobs, and living standards.

At the IMF-World Bank meetings in Istanbul in October 2009, the IMF was called on by its policy steering committee to rethink its mandate. The IMFC wanted to ensure that the IMF is able to cover―and I quote here from the communiqué that was issued in October 2009―“the full range of macro and financial sector policies that bear on macroeconomic global stability.”

The conclusions of this work will be discussed at our upcoming Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. The issues are rather complex, as you can imagine. We will be issuing a series of papers for discussion by the IMF’s Executive Board in the coming months. Our first discussion paper was published on February 26.